On his final run of the day, it took a triple team to bring down Brandon Jacobs — with one man clutching his legs, another wrapped around his waist and a third clinging to his shoulders.

Okay, so man isn’t the right word to describe his tacklers. They were three of coach Tom Coughlin’s grandsons, attacking the Giants running back on the blue locker room carpet with an enthusiasm the Atlanta Falcons sure lacked in this 24-2 pounding.

“That was the hardest anyone hit him all day!” somebody called out when the roughhousing ended — a wisecrack that led to a big laugh, even if it wasn’t the least bit true.

The Falcons hit Jacobs and his running mate Ahmad Bradshaw plenty. But Jacobs and Bradshaw kept coming at them, and the Giants fans know what can happen in games like this (even if they haven’t seen many of them in a while).

After all the pounding, the Falcons looked like they were already thinking about that warm bus waiting for them in the MetLife Stadium tunnel early in the fourth quarter, and maybe a long soak in the ice tub back in Atlanta.

There were plenty of developments yesterday that made you think the Giants had more than a puncher’s chance to upset the 15-1 Packers next week. They were dominant again defensively, making Falcons coach Mike Smith look foolish for twice trying to convert a fourth-and-inches with a quarterback sneak. They had another big play from the passing game, with Hakeem Nicks going 72 yards to remind the NFL that he, and not Victor Cruz, is the No. 1 target on this team.

The way the Giants ran the ball, however, had to be the most positive development. You knew they would rattle quarterback Matt Ryan. You knew quarterback Eli Manning would hit his targets.

But to run for 172 yards on 31 carries, with both Jacobs and Bradshaw breaking free for a run longer than 30? Against a defense that was ranked sixth against the run this season?

That was not just the surprise, but the development that makes them dangerous at Lambeau Field. All the talk about these Giants mirroring the team that made that championship run after the 2007 season ignored one significant detail: Those ’07 Giants were the fourth-best rushing team in the league, averaging 134.3.

These Giants were 32nd, averaging just 89.2. But something has clicked the past five weeks — probably adding a healthy Bradshaw to the mix, along with a new mix on the offensive line with David Diehl back to his old left tackle position — to change that. The Giants have now rushed for more than 100 yards in six of their last seven games. They averaged 3.18 yards per carry in their first 11 games, a number that has improved to 4.42 over the past six.

In short: They look like the Giants again.

“This time of year, that’s what we’re going to have to do to stay in games,” said Jacobs, who had 92 yards on 14 carries. “We can throw it to win as well, but why not use all your weapons?”

Coughlin talked about wanting balance, and the Giants took that to an extreme, with 32 passes and 31 rushes. Of course, these days in the NFL, “balance” often means mixing in a couple 10-yard passes to go along with your 40-yard passes, the Giants look like a black-and-white TV in comparison.

Still: Their chances of beating the Packers or the Saints at their own pass-happy game are slim. This has always been the best Giants’ playoff formula: Keep the high-powered opposing offenses on the sidelines with a ball-control offense. Somewhere, if he was watching this yesterday, Jim Kelly had some awful flashbacks.

It certainly wasn’t dominant from the start. The first five runs produced 8 yards when, of all people, Manning saw an opening and took off for a 14-yard gain on a key third down that seemed to energize his offense. It sparked an 85-yard touchdown drive that included a fourth-and-1 conversion when Jacobs spun on a linebacker at the Atlanta 6 to move the chains.

“Brandon Jacobs set the tone physically,” Coughlin said.

Bradshaw, when asked how tough the Giants are when he and Jacobs get going, added this: “I think we’re the toughest team in the league.”

The most impressive drive didn’t produce a single point. The Giants took 6:22 off the clock in the fourth quarter, delighting the crowd with each handoff. Jacobs for 14. Jacobs for 15. Bradshaw for 17. By the time Lawrence Tynes missed a short field-goal attempt, the Falcons were already looking for one of the 80,000 white towels in the stands to toss on the field.

When it ended, Jacobs was one of the final players to come off the field, taking a moment to raise his arms at the fans and soak up the love. To think, this is the same player who complained about these fans booing him early in the regular season, the one who looked like his thick legs had run out of juice.

Now they have new life. Eli Manning will have to be great for the Giants to escape Green Bay with another January win, but it’ll help that he can rely on the old formula that’s carried them before.